October Musings

I was amazed at how well Susan Lampert Smith hit our society on the head in so few words. We are plagued with “semi-apathy” maybe even full-on apathy. More and more I’m noticing that people, including myself, just don’t seem to care. It’s not like that all the time, but it seems to be occurring more often. I think a lot of what’s different between now and the 60’s is that people value different things. In the 60’s, they had just come off of the civil rights movement and being politically active and forming opinions was important. Today it seems like technology is the most important thing, thus putting TV shows above politics. Now, I’m not saying that politics should be the most important thing for all of us, but I am saying that TV definitely should not be the dominant thing in our lives today. There is so much more we can do that would actually be worth the time we spend on it.

I’m not saying that technology is bad, in most cases it’s extremely helpful and enjoyable, but only in moderation. When it blinds us from the rest of the world and the things taking place all around us, it is detrimental, not useful. So in that point I agree with Smith.

During class, as we’ve watched “Two Days in October,” and read this article, I’ve found myself almost wishing I could have been there that day. Obviously, I wouldn’t enjoy being hit over the head with a club, but I wish I could know what was going through the minds of the students. I want to know what their motivations were and how they reacted and why. The movie did a great job and covered some of it, but like the man also said in the film, history gets corrupted. They only way we can truly know is by being there. That’s why I would love to go back to that time, so I could understand and know for sure how it all went down. It was an important day and I’m really glad we took the time to learn about it because the effects are still being felt and talked about even 40 years later. It is not something we can or should, ever forget.